A variety of different hand-held tools are commonly used for landscaping and gardening such as hand pruners. These hand pruners can be of the scissors or anvil type but both types typically have a lower handle member and an upper or operating handle member which is pivotally connected to the lower handle member by a pivot pin. A blade is connected to the lower handle which cooperates with a hook that is operatively connected to the upper handle through a linkage so that the blade and hook provide a cutting action when the upper and lower handles are squeezed together. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,625, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, for an example of a hand pruner.
While these prior hand pruners may be adequate to perform intended landscaping and gardening tasks under some conditions, they can be difficult and uncomfortable to grasp and hold, particularly with two hands, and can require the operator to have a relatively large amount of hand strength and or dexterity. This can particularly be a concern when the hand pruners are used by women, elderly, or handicapped users. Additionally, there is a never ending desire to improve certain characteristics of such hand pruners such as, for example, quality, reliability, versatility, weather-resistance, high strength, low weight, and low manufacturing costs. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved hand pruners.